Exide Launches Eternity Range Of Batteries For Premium Cars

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Kolkata, March 4: : Storage battery maker Exide Industries Ltd is targeting the premium car market in India with its latest indigenously developed replacement battery, Eternity. As of now, the high-end battery will suit only certain luxury cars. But it will gradually be extended to all the premium cars.

Exide has made the Eternity range available for cars like the Hyundai Santro, Honda City (petrol), Indica (petrol), Matiz and all Maruti models. According to Exide officials, the company will soon make it available to cars like Hyundai Sonata, Ford Ikon and Mitsubishi Lancer.

Unveiling the Eternity range of batteries here, S Chand, director (automotive), said that the new batteries would initially be introduced in 11 cities — Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Ahmedabad, Guwahati and Tirupati — where Exide’s mobile customer care service, Batmobile, was available.

“The unique feature of the new range is a lifelong warranty on the product which we are making in our Pune factory. Depending on the customer pull that it will generate, we will gradually begin manufacturing them in our Hosur factory in Tamil Nadu,” he said.

The “lifetime” warranty on Eternity is based on the assumption that a car, on an average, stays with its owner for nine years.

“During this time, the battery will need a replacement once and that too at our expense. Initially, we will be happy if we are able to sell about 15,000 of these batteries per annum,” Mr Chand said.

Mr Chand also said that the replacement battery market, which is about 75 per cent of the total battery market, is growing at about 13 per cent a year but Exide is growing faster than the industry, at about 18 per cent.